Open API digital video recorder and method of making and using same

ABSTRACT

A digital video recorder is disclosed. The digital video recorder includes at least one memory device, a plurality of communication access points for receiving at least one program play, an open application programming interface associated with the at least one memory device, and at least one correlation engine in communication with the open application programming interface. The plurality of applications correspondent to the open application programming interface allow a user to manipulate metadata associated with ones of the programs plays and the metadata relates to interframe interactivity with detailed aspects of the ones of the program plays. The at least one correlation engine provides for correlation among at least for the interframes of the program play to ones of the interframes of other ones of the program plays, and among the interframe interactivity to the interframes of the program play to interframe interactivity with the other ones of the interframes of the other ones of the program plays.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/218,345, entitled OPEN API DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER AND METHOD OFMAKING AND USING SAME, filed Jul. 14, 2008, which claims priority under35 USC 119(e) to U.S. Patent Application No. 60/959,395, entitled OPENAPI DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER AND METHOD OF MAKING AND USING SAME filedJul. 13, 2007, with inventors Chad Steelberg and Ryan Steelberg, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to application software and, moreparticularly, to an open-API digital video recorder and a method ofmaking and using same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A digital video recorder is disclosed. The digital video recorderincludes at least one memory device, a plurality of communication accesspoints for receiving at least one program play, an open applicationprogramming interface associated with the at least one memory device,and at least one correlation engine in communication with the openapplication programming interface. The plurality of applicationscorrespondent to the open application programming interface allow a userto manipulate metadata associated with ones of the programs plays andthe metadata relates to interframe interactivity with detailed aspectsof the ones of the program plays. The at least one correlation engineprovides for correlation among at least for the interframes of theprogram play to ones of the interframes of other ones of the programplays, and among the interframe interactivity to the interframes of theprogram play to interframe interactivity with the other ones of theinterframes of the other ones of the program plays.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention will be described hereinbelow in conjunction withthe following figures, in which like numerals represent like items, andwherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a home having resident therein atleast one television set having associated therewith at least onedigital video recording unit;

FIG. 2 illustrates a video which will be displayed to the user as aprogram play; and,

FIG. 3 is an example illustrating certain applications and/or filtersinteracting with the message bus and having associated therewith coreapplications, and may be surrounded by metatags in a manner similar tothe base video of interest.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the presentinvention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevantfor a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating,for the purposes of clarity, many other elements found in typicalinteractive and application programming interface (API) systems andmethods. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that otherelements are desirable and/or required in order to implement the presentinvention. However, because such elements are well known in the art, andbecause they do not facilitate a better understanding of the presentinvention, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a home having resident therein atleast one television set having associated therewith at least onedigital video recording unit (hereinafter “DVR”). As defined herein, aDVR preferably includes at least one memory unit, such as a hard drive,RAM, flash memory, or the like, at least one communication access point,the capability to read metadata received via one of the communicationaccess points, and the capability to write metadata related to a user'suse of the DVR. Such communication access points may include one or moreof, for example, satellite communication, coaxial cable communication,WiFi communication, WiMax communication (such as Sprint/Nextel, Tier 1,and Clearwire, Tier 3), other wireless LAN (local area network)communication, telephonic or DSL communication, T-111 or Ethernetcommunication, or the like. Further, the DVR preferably includes anoperating environment that has associated therewith at least oneapplication program interface (API). The at least one API allows for aprogrammer to write applications consistent with the operatingenvironment. The API preferably includes a set of routines, protocols,and/or tools to allow for programmers to create software applicationsconsistent with the operating environment, as will be apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art. Programs consistent with the API may bepushed or pulled to or by the DVR over the one or more communicationaccess points in response to or as a command to the operatingenvironment.

The DVR of the present invention may thus have accessible thereto aplurality of communication media types, including, but not limited to,cable television channels, satellite television channels, the worldwideweb, email capabilities, data (including video and audio) libraries, andthe like, each of which communication media types may form the basis forthe creation of a “program play,” in which one or more programs (audioor video) are presented to a user. In prior embodiments, televisionprograms that play through the DVR have associated therewith a limitedamount of metadata that is indicative only of “thematic”, principallyouterclip aspects of the television program, such as time of the programplay, length of the program play, title of the program play, descriptionof program play and significant actors or actresses associated with theprogram of the program play. The limited metadata associated with theprogram play received over one or more of the respective communicationaccess points is then made available, in the prior art, for limitedmanipulation by the user with regard only to those aspects of theprogram play with which the thematic metadata is associated. Because theAPI of prior art DVR technology is closed, programmers are notuniversally afforded the opportunity to make greater use of informationin any respective program play.

The present invention provides, via an open API DVR, an accessibility bythe DVR to program plays or applications over any of a plurality ofcommunication access point types mentioned hereinabove, as well as toplay program plays of any communication media type as also mentionedhereinabove. As such, a myriad of applications may be written byprogrammers for operation on or in any of the variety of communicationmedia, and for operation over nearly any communication access pointtype, and such applications may be pushed, pulled, or accessible overany of the aforementioned communication access points. Further, suchapplication may allow for pushing or pulling for numerous interactivitytypes, including server interactivity, peer interactivity (includingpoint-to-point sharing), and program play feed interactivity, forexample. Such interactivity may be via an accessing of exposedapplication hooks to the aforementioned metadata.

Such applications written for the open API of the present invention mayprovide improved interactivity by, for example, exposing via theapplication metadata associated with each and every aspect of theprogram play on any given communication media. For example, metadata maybe associated with each word spoken, sound made, and picture shown inany given program play, such as a television or radio program, and assuch programmers may expose via the open API information not merelycontained within or directly associated with the program play, but thatis rather associated with the metadata associated with the program play.The metadata employed in the present invention is discussed furtherhereinbelow with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3. The metadata may be madeaccessible to the user via, for example, application software in theform of a program play overlay, in which an overlay-user interface isplaced at the forefront of the program play currently in view of theuser, which program play is a television program in the exampleimmediately hereinabove. Such an overlay may take the form of, forexample, an overlay that provides links, dropdown menus, windows, orother readily accessible user interfaces. Further, it will be evident tothose of ordinary skill in the art that applications may be written thatprovide multiple windows, menus, or the like simultaneously to a singleuser, wherein each window plays over a television interface and providesa different program play, and consequently a different overlay, to theuser, thereby providing an enhanced version of the known “picture inpicture” program plays.

As mentioned hereinabove, the metadata associated with a particularprogram play of a particular communication media may allow for a “hook”to accessibility of any aspect of the program play, including, but notlimited to, externally accessible media, such as other program playsstarring the same actor, other program plays starring the same musician,advertising related to goods illustrated in the program play, purchasingpoints for goods illustrated in the program play, external information,such as World Wide Web (www or Web) information regarding itemsillustrated in the program play, and the like. Such external informationmay be accessible via a user activation of aspects of an overlay on theprogram play, or the accessing of certain aspects of an overlay or theprogram play itself may lead the user to menus, windows, or the likeoutside the program play, and the desired information may be accessiblefrom such menus, windows, or the like.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the open API DVRmay allow for an application having an eBay® overlay to be placed on aparticular television show, such as “The Antiques Roadshow”, and theuser may thereby access, via the overlay, similar items available oneBay® to those items being illustrated in the show. Alternatively,rather than the eBay® overlay being placed upon The Antiques Roadshow(the program play of the communication media television), which isreceived by the DVR via the communication access point cable orsatellite, eBay®, an affiliate, or a third party programmer may create aunique channel for reception by the DVR over a different communicationaccess point, which eBay channel shows still photographs, videos, audio,or the like, that relate to items of frequent interest to buyers ofeBay® goods, and the eBay® overlay may be placed thereover to allow auser to access further information with regard to those goods or accesspoints of purchase, such as by moving the user to the World Wide Webupon activation by the user of aspects of the overlay. As such, eBay®may create its own unique communications media channel for display overtelevision and may send this new channel for communication to the DVRvia WiMax or the like, and as such new “television channels” can becreated for access via communication access points not generally usedcurrently by televisions.

In an additional exemplary embodiment, a user may be viewing a highlyfashion-related program play, such as Desperate Housewives on ABC, inwhich different fashions or accessories are highly prevalent. If allsuch information associated with that program play is metatagged, theuser may access information on the fashions being worn, or theaccessories being used, and such information may include accessibilityto other external information, such as comments from fashion editors,available purchase points of the items of interest, and external paymentsites to allow for the purchase of those items of interest.

In an additional exemplary embodiment, a user may enter, to anapplication pulled to the DVR via the open API, a list of that user'sfantasy sports players. The present invention may make available to thatuser a menu listing those fantasy sports players, and the location atwhich those fantasy sports players may be watched, recorded, orauto-recorded, on any communication media via any communication accesspoint, in real time. Additionally, certain players may be highlighted,such as when that particular player's team possesses the ball, so thatthe user may switch between communication media or communication accesspoints to, in a targeted manner, allow that user to watch, record, orauto-record that user's players. Additionally and alternatively withregard to this exemplary embodiment, an application may allow the userto open multiple windows to watch multiple of that user's players inreal time, and may maintain in each window an overlay, or may display ina separate window the menu of fantasy players, or may allow the user totoggle between the menu and the video or audio of the games beingplayed.

Thus, for example, a user may select what events certain actions by theDVR are to trigger on, such as autorecording certain events, such aseach time a football running back entered into the fantasy football menuinterface scores a touchdown. As such, a user can create his or herfavorite, or most frequently accessed, metatags, and the metatags may beplaced on all content, and on the user's accessing of all content.

In a broader sense, these exemplary embodiments illustrate that one ormore applications pulled or pushed via the open API to the DVR may allowthe user to assess, in real time, and/or watch, or auto-record, multipleprograms, portions of programs, snippets, ads, or the like of interest,inside or outside of any program play (such as via a selectable toolbargenerated in accordance with a unique application), use multiple windowsof interest simultaneously, be presented with multiple overlays ofinterest, be presented with multiple menus of interest, all of which mayallow the user to access multiple pieces of information or externalinformation not currently available to the user via a television programplay. Further for example, as discussed hereinabove, the user may useany application, such as a software overlay, while watching a footballgame for example, to access any information related to all or anyportion of that program play, such as information on the types of shoesworn by that user's favorite player, where the user may buy the jerseyworn by that user's favorite player, may access an online purchase pointfor those shoes or that jersey, and/or may pay using an on-line point ofpayment account, such as PayPal, all from the DVR of the presentinvention.

As such, the present invention may also provide a highly targetedmarketing tool for advertisers, in that each user will accessinformation of interest to that particular user, thereby ensuring thatan advertiser's advertisement is played to a user that is mostinterested in the item being sold. Thereby, advertisers will have lessneed to place ads in program plays in which 99% of the viewers of theprogram play are not interested in the item being sold. Further, thepresent invention will allow such commerce interaction by each user tobe uniquely tracked.

Not only will the addition of metadata add more targeted marketingopportunities, such as to make television ads into drill downs ratherthan just thirty second videos, but additionally the addition ofmetadata will allow “add-on programming” associated with televisionshows, which is presently found on line on the Web, to be brought backto the television media. For example, on line universes that are createdfor association with shows on television may, via metadata, menus,and/or overlays that access the metadata, allow for those on-lineuniverses to be brought back on to television.

Further, the applications written for the DVR are of the presentinvention may, as do present DVR's, collect metadata on use by the userof the DVR, as mentioned hereinabove. Without violation of privacy laws,such information may, using the applications for the open API discussedherein, be passed to third parties and the metadata may be collected,thereby allowing third parties to generate yet more targetedadvertising, more targeted programs plays, and more communication media(such as communication channels) of interest to the highest number ofusers.

In light of that discussed hereinabove, the open API of the DVR of thepresent invention may provide hooks into all items of interest and intothe operating environment of the DVR, and the exposure of those hooksvia the open API will allow third parties to tie into those hooks.Further, users can access applications associated with those hooks viathe metadata tags associated with those hooks. Such metadata tags mayallow, for example, applications that make use of overlays, videooverlays, water marking, auto pause, auto record, toolbars, menus, andthe like. The applications so generated may be locally processed on theDVR (such as for certified applications), or can be streamed to the DVR,or can be associated with entirely new, externally generatedcommunication channels. Additionally, as discussed hereinabove, althoughthe DVR may have associated therewith some local storage, vastquantities of remote storage may be made available, such as at externalsites accessible via WiMax or the like. As such, a user may be chargedfor any level of desired storage for programming, and will not belimited for storage by the hardware of the DVR resident within theuser's home.

Thus, the present invention may make available any of a variety ofcommunication channels, and any of a variety of applications foraccessing metatags associated with the communication media being playedon any of those communication channels. For example, a real estatechannel may be made available, and the real estate available on the realestate channel may be targeted to the preferences entered by the user ofinterest. Alternatively, a completely interactive gaming channel may bemade available wherein trivia games, casino games, or the like may bemade available in accordance with user preferences, and actionsundertaken by the user may be received by the DVR as metadata that maybe made available to third parties. Alternatively, complex interfacesmay be made available via a metadata feed. For example, a user may watcha nature show on the Discovery Channel, and may hear or see mention ofan animal of interest to that user. The user may then access, such asvia an overlay, a link associated with that animal of interest. Thatlink may provide the user with access to, for example, Google Earth,which may allow for illustration to the user of all animals of thattype, anywhere in the world, that have been tagged and placed back intothe wild and that are open to sponsorship by a user. The user may bethen given the option to sponsor one of the animals in a location ofinterest to the user, and in the event the user selects an animal tosponsor, an on-line payment interface, such as PayPal, may be accessibleto the user for payment of the sponsorship fee. Alternatively, eitherwithin the program play on the Discovery Channel, or after drilling downto the animal of interest, the user may be presented with a mention of acountry of interest to the user, such as Botswana. The user may pause,and either exit the program play via the overlay, or may exit the GoogleEarth interface displaying the animals of interest, and may redirect tofind information, such as on Wikipedia, on “Botswana.” After the userhas redirected a sufficient number of times to receive the informationof interest to the user with regard to Botswana, the user may elect tobe redirected back to the initial location of interest, which in thisexample is either the program play or the information on the animal ofinterest.

The present invention may also include social networking. Such socialnetworking may include videoconferencing, video messaging, or placementof personal information or personal ads on line, or placement of videoor audio generated by a user that the user would like to make accessibleto third parties, from the communication access points accessible to theuser via the open API DVR, thus making the user “the star of” his or herown show.

The present invention may additionally include, for example, a mobileDVR, wherein DVR features accessed via mobile televisions, televisionsnot within the home residence, navigation screens within vehicles, orthe like, accessible to any of the aforementioned communication accesspoints, and such mobile DVR may communication with the home, open APIDVR.

More specifically with regard to the above-referenced metatagging, themetatagging of the present invention is typically to take placeinterclip, and may be thematically or non-thematically related. Morespecifically, the tagging may be done interclip and interframe, and/orframe-by-frame, and may relate to words, pictures, and the like thatoccur within the frame, whether or not related to the thematic nature ofthe programming. Such tags may be associated with the interframeprogramming by, for example, the automatic nature of the applicationthen running, may be inserted remotely at the programming for theprogramming displayed, or may inserted by the users as the programmingis viewed. Further, such tagging allows for actions to be taken ondiscrete portions of an overall program play, unlike the actions madeavailable by the prior art. Additionally, such metatags may be streamedin-content, or in a separate metastream tied to the program play, asdiscussed with particularity immediately hereinbelow.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, a metatag as usedherein is a computer-readable language, such as xml, html, or the like,syntax statement that may be sent along with a program play, such as bybeing sent as a secondary stream fed to a user along with a streamedprogram play, or that may be sent as part of a program play, such as inthe “header” information that describes the computing characteristics ofthe program play. The metatag may convey information about that withwhich it is associated (i.e. the program play in this example), and suchinformation may or may not actually be found within such a program play.For example, such metatags may be hooks, such as for user commands, ormay make requests of the user, or may be used as keywords in searchingof program plays or program play portions. Each such metatag must begiven a unique name, or tag, and have associated therewith uniquecontent. Such association of keywords and content may be doneautomatically, such as by an automated search of a document, such as ascript of a program play, or such as by spider searching, or such as byindex searching, or may be done manually.

Further, metatags included within frames may be linked and/or correlatedto other metatags, within or outside of the program then within view.For example, correlation may be performed from metatag to metatag, inframe, or from metatag to metatag from a frame of one program play to aframe in a separate program play, or from metatag to content stream, forexample. Alternatively, correlation of metatag to metatag may occur froma frame within one program play to another frame within the same programplay, or interframe between program plays. Correlation may be employedusing authoring standard techniques and/or languages, such asSynchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) or MicrosoftSynchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI), among others, whichmay be separate from, and in a different syntax than, the program playstream(s). Further or alternatively, correlation functions andcorrelation branching known to those skilled in the art of mathematicsmay be employed by the applications programmed into the open API of thepresent invention, with regard to each frame, or frame portion, of everyprogram play accessible to the open API DVR.

In certain exemplary embodiments, watermarking techniques typicallyemployed for embedding correlated audiovisual interaction informationmay be used to correlate frames, inter-frames, or program plays in thepresent invention, with or without modification to the typical metatagdata stream or headers (see, e.g., “Stream Based Interactive VideoLanguage Authoring using Correlated Audiovisual Watermarking,” Xu, etal., ICITA '05 Proceedings, IEEE). Further, as such, upon placement intoor into association with the program play, inframe metatags may havecorrelated therewith not only aspects of inframes of other programplays, but additionally any of the number of functions to be performedby the respective applications discussed herein throughout.

The association of metatags to other metatags may, in fact, create“clickable video.” Clickable video provides true interactivity to awatcher of any program play that presents the video to the user. Assuch, for example, the user may pause the video and use display objectsknown to those skilled in the art, such as a mouse cursor, to interactwith portions of the video, or may call up such an interactive cursor tointeract with the video while the video is playing. Further, metataggingmay allow for variations in the mouse cursor that correspond to thoseaspects of the video currently playing when the mouse cursor is broughtup on the screen. For example, if a portion of the video includes anactor in the video drinking a can of Coke, the mouse cursor, if calledduring that portion of the video, might display as a miniature can ofCoke.

Thus, once the metastream is defined, clickable video frames can becreated, correlation to the same or other metastreams may be performed,and passive processing may be performed with third party API's. Suchthird party processing may include, for example, remote commands such asDVR commands, that may, for example, allow for the taping of certainsnippets of interest within larger program shows.

The manner of metatagging used in the present invention may, forexample, be any methodology of metatagging known to those skilled in theart. Further, a program play may be metatagged before initial broadcast,before rebroadcast, or during the streaming of a broadcast stream. Assuch, rights in such metatagging may be available and divisible bypre-initial broadcast, in-broadcast, and rebroadcast, for example.

The present invention may be hierarchically organized as shown in FIG.2. FIG. 2 illustrates, as the focal point of the present invention, avideo which will be displayed to the user as a program play. The videois metatagged as shown, and the hierarchy outside, but associated with,the metatags may then communicate with and using the metatags via amessage bus. Surrounding the message bus may be a variety of filters,and surrounding the filters may be a variety of applications. Theapplications may access any of a number of the filters, and both theapplications and the filters may have accessible thereto the messagebus. The message bus may make available a variety of operation commandsfor interaction with the metatags, and the metatags may provideinteroperability of the commands with the video.

The filters may be mapped into a variety of commands made available inthe message bus, and thus the filters may be of a variety of types. Forexample, filters may include key word filters, commerce-type filters,location filters, geolocation filters, correlation filters, insertionfilters such as for secondary feeds, and social filters, programmaticpublishing filters, automatic publishing filters, and the like. Themapping of user commands performed by the filters, and performed by theapplications that run the filters, may cause the application of onefilter type to be a causation for application of a filter of anothertype. As such, applications can likewise feed one another, such aswherein an application of one type, such as a search application,accesses an application of another type, such as a Wikipedia engine,whereby answers to a user inquiry into a search engine can be obtained.

Further, for example, one application and/or filter may allow the savingof certain aspects of a program based on the application of anotherapplication indicating that the user wishes to seek certain snippetsassociated with certain topics. Further, once such snippets are saved,yet another application may allow the shipment of the frames or snippetsof interest, based on the metadata illustrating that such frames are ofinterest, between users, such as via email programs, internet mail orWiFi for example. Additionally, as mentioned hereinabove, the open APIaspects of the DVR of the present invention may allow for programmaticpublishing, wherein an application actively publishes certain metadataor certain information received into the programming via, for example,automatic publishing (wherein such publishing occurs passively).

In a more specific example illustrated in FIG. 3, certain applicationsand/or filters interact with the message bus. As illustrated, theapplications and/or filters may have associated therewith coreapplications, and may be surrounded by metatags in a manner similar tothe base video of interest. In an exemplary embodiment, the metatags ofthe application into which the user expresses interest in the locationof certain animals of the world may come from a mapping application,wherein interaction B, as shown, interacts with the message bus based onthe interaction B from the user. The metatag reached by interaction Bmay be a geographic location within a program then within view of theuser, and may lead to interaction A reaching out to make otherassessments of the user's mapped location of interest. For example, adifferent application may then be accessed by the first applicationbased on the correlation of interactions A and B, and this differentapplication may assess a variety of different animals, available animalsponsorships, records of national disasters, phone books, flora, or thelike, that are resident in that particular geographic location. Suchinformation may then be fed back to the user via the message businterface, or the interest from the user may simply be written to theexternal application, and may be tracked by the application programmer.As such, multiple applications may collaborate as between theapplications, may correlate as between the applications, and may filteras between the applications, and such actions may occur automatically,via programmatic publishing, and/or may be based on certain permissions.

The filtering and applications of the present invention made availablevia the open API DVR interface may thus be dependent on the capabilityto create an instream metastream that is not necessarily thematicallyrelated to any of the programs shown to the user. Such an instreammetastream may include a metastream associated with any instreamprogramming, which may include not only the programming of interest butalso advertising associated with, or accessible from, the programming ofinterest.

Although the invention has been described and pictured in a preferredform with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that thepresent disclosure of the preferred form has been made by way ofexample, and that numerous changes in the details of construction andcombination and arrangement of parts and steps may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A digital video recorder (DVR), comprising:at least one memory device; a communication access point for receivingat least one program play; an open application programming interfaceassociated with said at least one memory device, wherein a plurality ofapplications using said open application programming interface (API)allow a user to interact directly with a display of the program play,based on metatags associated with at least one prevalent objectappearing in one of the programs plays, wherein said metatags providefor viewer interactivity directly with the metatagged object appearingin the program plays, and wherein the interactivity includes access toexternally accessible media, information in the world wide webadvertising and/or purchasing points external to the DVR and having apredetermined relationship with the metatagged object of the programplays; a correlation engine in communication with said open applicationprogramming interface, wherein said correlation engine relatesmetatagged object in a portion of one program play and correspondinginteractivity provided thereby, to metatagged similar objects appearingin others of the program plays, and in other portions of the sameprogram play, for use by at least a portion of the plurality ofapplications that use the open API to employ correlation functions andcorrelation branching with regard to program plays accessible DVR; andan instream metastream that is correlated to the program play shown tothe user, said instream metastream being thematically unrelated to theprogram play.
 2. The digital video recorder of claim 1, wherein themetadata associated with ones of the programs plays includes acomputer-readable language.
 3. The digital video recorder of claim 1,wherein the metadata associated with ones of the programs plays conveysinformation about the program play.
 4. The digital video recorder ofclaim 3, wherein the conveyed information is not found within theprogram play.
 5. The digital video recorder of claim 1, wherein theconveyed information includes links to other metatags.
 6. The digitalvideo recorder of claim 1, wherein the conveyed information includescorrelations to other metatags.
 7. The digital video recorder of claim6, wherein the correlations are outside of the program that is withinview.
 8. The digital video recorder of claim 1, further comprising awatermark, wherein said watermark embeds correlated audiovisualinteraction information used to correlate frames.
 9. The digital videorecorder of claim 8, wherein the watermark does not require modificationof the typical metadata.
 10. The digital video recorder of claim 1,further comprising the association of metatags to other metatags. 11.The digital video recorder of claim 10, wherein the association createsclickable video.
 12. The digital video recorder of claim 1, wherein inthe metadata is created before the initial broadcast of the programplay.
 13. The digital video recorder of claim 1, wherein in the metadatais created before the rebroadcast of the program play.
 14. The digitalvideo recorder of claim 1, wherein in the metadata is created duringstreaming of a broadcast of the program play.
 15. The digital videorecorder of claim 1, wherein the metadata is presented in a hierarchicalorganization.
 16. The digital video recorder of claim 15, wherein thehierarchical organization includes at least one filter.
 17. The digitalvideo recorder of claim 16, wherein the at least one filter is mappedinto at least one command.
 18. The digital video recorder of claim 1,wherein said instream metastream includes a metastream associated withinstream programming, wherein said instream programming includesprogramming of interest and advertising associated with said programmingof interest.
 19. The digital video recorder of claim 1, wherein saidinstream metastream is accessible via a permission based access point.